RIYADH, 17 August 2005 — The Kingdom has shown interest in seeking Venezuela’s cooperation in formulating a strategy for poverty alleviation using the Latin American nation’s experience in social welfare programs.
Venezuela’s Ambassador Ramon Herrera Navarro said his country was negotiating the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two the countries. It would lead to a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with the Kingdom in technical, financial, economic and cultural fields as well as in tourism promotion.
“We are also trying to implement a cultural agreement that we have signed,” the ambassador said, adding that the framework for cooperation in these areas was discussed by a high-level delegation to Venezuela earlier this year.
Ambassador Navarro said that an agreement on a reciprocal promotion and protection of investments, another to avoid double taxation on the income tax and a third on cooperation between municipal organizations of the capital cities of both countries were under discussion. He also said a pilot project for setting up an institute for teaching Spanish language was under review.
Asked about the scope for cooperation in terms of regional development in the Kingdom, the ambassador said his country faced problems similar to those of Saudi Arabia concerning lop-sided regional growth and was implementing programs to solve them. Some of these problems stemmed from the lack of attention on the part of the previous government to the development of agriculture and non-oil industries. “This caused the migration of people from rural areas to cities resulting in a very high level of poverty in most of our cities.”
The Saudi delegation which visited Venezuela in February explored the possibility of utilizing Venezuela’s experience as the basis for a short-term strategy to tackle poverty in the Kingdom. During their stay, the Saudi delegation met with senior officials of various governmental organizations to learn first-hand Venezuela’s experience in tackling poverty.
They also visited the Indigenous Development Unit in Gramoven to gain an insight into the efforts being made by different textile, shoe and agricultural cooperatives together with popular clinics located specially in the poor areas of Venezuela for providing free medical care. They also toured Mercal, places where food is provided at very low prices to the public as part of a comprehensive social welfare program.
“The visitors received a lot of information about the educational programs carried on by our government which has made possible the declaration of Venezuela as a country free of illiteracy in a very short time. They were also briefed on a program which provides free education and meals to our children.”
The ambassador spoke about programs geared to would-be entrepreneurs as well as the setting up of cooperatives that receive funding for specific projects.
